the composer
PHoto by Marylene Mey
Lee Hoiby was born in Wisconsin in 1926. He studied piano with Gunnar Johansen and Egon Petri but gave up his intentions to be a concert pianist when he received an invitation to study composition with Gian Carlo Menotti at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. Menotti led Hoiby to opera, presenting Hoiby’s one-act The Scarf at the first Spoleto (Italy) Festival in 1957. The New York City Opera presented Hoiby’s A Month in the Country in 1964, and his Summer and Smoke (based on the Tennessee Williams play) in 1972. Hoiby’s songs, many set to distinguished texts by Emily Dickinson, Wallace Stevens, Elizabeth Bishop, and James Merrill, are widely performed, notably by soprano Leontyne Price. Mr. Hoiby has been a recipient of Fulbright and Guggenheim fellowships, and the National Institute of Arts and Letters Award.
Lee Hoiby The Tempest
A new opera in three acts (1985)
Learn more about The Tempest at www.musicsalesclassical.com. Photos from the opera courtesy of SUNY Purchase.
For more information contact Peggy Monastra, peggy.monastra@schirmer.com, 212-254-2100.
ORDERING INFORMATION Rental orders and fee quotations: Zinfonia.com or MusicSalesClassical.com/licensing
Perusal scores: MusicaSalesClassical.com/OnDemand
Sales materials: MusicDispatch.com or MusicRoom.com or your music dealer
Publisher and Agency Representation for the Music Sales Group: MusicSalesClassical.com/rental
The Music Sales Group of Companies USA: G. Schirmer, Inc. Associated Music Publishers, Inc.
UK: Chester Music Ltd Novello & Co Ltd
France: Alphonse Leduc Chant du Monde Chester Music France Les Editions Choudens
Spain: Unión Musical Ediciones
Denmark: Edition Wilhelm Hansen AS
Germany: Music Sales Classical Berlin
schirmer@schirmer.com
chesterfrance@musicsales.co.uk
ewh@ewh.dk
promotion@musicsales.co.uk
unionmusicalediciones@musicsales.co.uk
Australia: G. Schirmer Pty Ltd publishing@musicsales.com.au
classical.berlin@musicsales.co.uk
“A REAL OPERA, MELODIOUS and SENSITIVELY ORCHESTRATED.” - Opera News
The Tempest
An opera in three acts (2017)
synopsis Twelve years ago, Prospero, the Duke of Milan, and also a great magician, was exiled with his infant daughter Miranda to a deserted island by his treacherous brother, allied with the King of Naples. Now his enemies’ ships have strayed near his shore, and with the aid of Ariel, the airy spirit who serves him, Prospero has the opportunity to revenge himself. But he finally chooses forgiveness, consecrated in the wedding of Miranda and Ferdinand, son of the King of Naples.
Score by Lee Hoiby
Duration: 2 hours 10 minutes
Libretto by Mark Shulgasser
Premiere: June 1986, Des Moines Metro Opera
After the play by W. Shakespeare
Orchestra: 2222/4221/timp.perc/hp.pf/str
Revised Version Premiere: April 2008, Purchase Opera. Hugh Murphy, conductor
cast list PROSPERO, rightful Duke of Milan Bass Baritone MIRANDA, his daughter Soprano ARIEL, an airy spirit of the island Coloratura Soprano
FERDINAND, son to Alonso Bass-baritone CALIBAN, savage native & Prospero’s slave Tenor TRINCULO, a jester Dramatic Soprano STEPHANO, a drunken butler Bass
COURTIERS: ALONSO, King of Naples Bass-baritone GONZALO, his honest old counselor Bass-baritone SEBASTIAN, his brother Baritone ANTONIO, the usurping Duke of Milan and Prospero’s brother Baritone
WOMEN’S CHORUS
composer revision notes Substantial revisions of The Tempest took place after the premiere in Des Moines in 1986 and the second production in Kansas City the following year. The published vocal score incorporating these changes was first produced in Dallas in 1996. For the Purchase production, Ariel’s harpy aria, “You three men of sin,” has been trimmed considerably. In both the post-premiere changes and the new Purchase revision, the second act, dominated by the minor characters, couriers and comics, is altered the most. The curtain is made less emphatic, and now the second intermission may be replaced by a pause. The villains who play a role in act two are reduced to a few good sulfurous whiffs, rather than grumbling all over the scene, and genial Gonzalo’s garrulousness has been abridged. In whole, the playing time has been reduced by about 15 percent.
PRAISE FOR HOIBY’S THE TEMPEST “Granted, Shakespeare’s The Tempest is already perfect without music... [But] the real star of the show is Hoiby’s music, always beautifully and colorfully orchestrated around a constant flow of melody... with a fluid lyricism pulling into some magnificnet sweeping set numbers. Hoiby is clearly hypnotized by the spell of Shakespeare’s words [as] the opera builds to a chilling ceremonial grandeur in the final apotheosis.”
- Wayne Lee Gay, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
The Tempest
An opera in three acts (2017)
synopsis Twelve years ago, Prospero, the Duke of Milan, and also a great magician, was exiled with his infant daughter Miranda to a deserted island by his treacherous brother, allied with the King of Naples. Now his enemies’ ships have strayed near his shore, and with the aid of Ariel, the airy spirit who serves him, Prospero has the opportunity to revenge himself. But he finally chooses forgiveness, consecrated in the wedding of Miranda and Ferdinand, son of the King of Naples.
Score by Lee Hoiby
Duration: 2 hours 10 minutes
Libretto by Mark Shulgasser
Premiere: June 1986, Des Moines Metro Opera
After the play by W. Shakespeare
Orchestra: 2222/4221/timp.perc/hp.pf/str
Revised Version Premiere: April 2008, Purchase Opera. Hugh Murphy, conductor
cast list PROSPERO, rightful Duke of Milan Bass Baritone MIRANDA, his daughter Soprano ARIEL, an airy spirit of the island Coloratura Soprano
FERDINAND, son to Alonso Bass-baritone CALIBAN, savage native & Prospero’s slave Tenor TRINCULO, a jester Dramatic Soprano STEPHANO, a drunken butler Bass
COURTIERS: ALONSO, King of Naples Bass-baritone GONZALO, his honest old counselor Bass-baritone SEBASTIAN, his brother Baritone ANTONIO, the usurping Duke of Milan and Prospero’s brother Baritone
WOMEN’S CHORUS
composer revision notes Substantial revisions of The Tempest took place after the premiere in Des Moines in 1986 and the second production in Kansas City the following year. The published vocal score incorporating these changes was first produced in Dallas in 1996. For the Purchase production, Ariel’s harpy aria, “You three men of sin,” has been trimmed considerably. In both the post-premiere changes and the new Purchase revision, the second act, dominated by the minor characters, couriers and comics, is altered the most. The curtain is made less emphatic, and now the second intermission may be replaced by a pause. The villains who play a role in act two are reduced to a few good sulfurous whiffs, rather than grumbling all over the scene, and genial Gonzalo’s garrulousness has been abridged. In whole, the playing time has been reduced by about 15 percent.
PRAISE FOR HOIBY’S THE TEMPEST “Granted, Shakespeare’s The Tempest is already perfect without music... [But] the real star of the show is Hoiby’s music, always beautifully and colorfully orchestrated around a constant flow of melody... with a fluid lyricism pulling into some magnificnet sweeping set numbers. Hoiby is clearly hypnotized by the spell of Shakespeare’s words [as] the opera builds to a chilling ceremonial grandeur in the final apotheosis.”
- Wayne Lee Gay, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
the composer
PHoto by Marylene Mey
Lee Hoiby was born in Wisconsin in 1926. He studied piano with Gunnar Johansen and Egon Petri but gave up his intentions to be a concert pianist when he received an invitation to study composition with Gian Carlo Menotti at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. Menotti led Hoiby to opera, presenting Hoiby’s one-act The Scarf at the first Spoleto (Italy) Festival in 1957. The New York City Opera presented Hoiby’s A Month in the Country in 1964, and his Summer and Smoke (based on the Tennessee Williams play) in 1972. Hoiby’s songs, many set to distinguished texts by Emily Dickinson, Wallace Stevens, Elizabeth Bishop, and James Merrill, are widely performed, notably by soprano Leontyne Price. Mr. Hoiby has been a recipient of Fulbright and Guggenheim fellowships, and the National Institute of Arts and Letters Award.
Lee Hoiby The Tempest
A new opera in three acts (1985)
Learn more about The Tempest at www.musicsalesclassical.com. Photos from the opera courtesy of SUNY Purchase.
For more information contact Peggy Monastra, peggy.monastra@schirmer.com, 212-254-2100.
ORDERING INFORMATION Rental orders and fee quotations: Zinfonia.com or MusicSalesClassical.com/licensing
Perusal scores: MusicaSalesClassical.com/OnDemand
Sales materials: MusicDispatch.com or MusicRoom.com or your music dealer
Publisher and Agency Representation for the Music Sales Group: MusicSalesClassical.com/rental
The Music Sales Group of Companies USA: G. Schirmer, Inc. Associated Music Publishers, Inc.
UK: Chester Music Ltd Novello & Co Ltd
France: Alphonse Leduc Chant du Monde Chester Music France Les Editions Choudens
Spain: Unión Musical Ediciones
Denmark: Edition Wilhelm Hansen AS
Germany: Music Sales Classical Berlin
schirmer@schirmer.com
chesterfrance@musicsales.co.uk
ewh@ewh.dk
promotion@musicsales.co.uk
unionmusicalediciones@musicsales.co.uk
Australia: G. Schirmer Pty Ltd publishing@musicsales.com.au
classical.berlin@musicsales.co.uk
“A REAL OPERA, MELODIOUS and SENSITIVELY ORCHESTRATED.” - Opera News